This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:01] I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, a day off food. That's a good start right there. Right.

[00:00:12] I hope you had something that you were thankful for. I hope you took some time to give thanks to the giver of all good gifts. I know that. I got to do with that.

[00:00:20] And one thing that I was especially thankful for this year was my dad sticking with our family theme here. We got parents committing to training their children in the way that God commands. Well, that's what my dad did. I am a product of that kind of parenting.

[00:00:39] And more than what school I went to growing up, more than the fact that I went to a Bible college, more than the fact that taking classes in a seminary, the thing that trained me to live life, to do ministry more than anything else, was growing up at my house.

[00:00:57] It was my dad and my mom. And here's something that my dad did that I haven't heard of many other dads doing, unfortunately, is every single day. We read the Bible at the Blakey house.

[00:01:10] Now, I say that to people like we had Bible time in our house every single day. And they look at me like, how can these things be like how like that must have been so weird, like to have Bible time at your house. Hey, growing up, I didn't know there was any other way that a family could be. It wasn't weird for me. I was a standard operating procedure at Cassaday Blakey. That's just how it went. There was going to come a time every single night where the television was going to get turned off. This is radical now. People were gonna come outside of their individual rooms and we were going to gather together and the book was going to be opened and it was gonna be read aloud and we were gonna talk about it when I was younger. The book had pictures in it and I would pay attention to all these cool pictures. And then later everybody brought their own Bible and we would all open it and we would read the Bible together and we would pray as a family.

[00:02:07] And so I'm thankful that my dad did that. And my dad is actually here with us this morning.

[00:02:13] He's sitting right over years. I would like to publicly honor him if you could just clap for my dad.

[00:02:18] This is the read. Part of the reason we're here today is that guy right there, the bishop himself, Bruce Blakey.

[00:02:26] And you'll see why I'm talking about this when you turn to First Thessalonians, Chapter two with me, because it's going to make an analogy here in our text for today. First Thessalonians, Chapter two versus ten to twelve. And it's going to say that when we're doing ministry at church, we're supposed to do it like a dad with his kids. So we're trying to learn from the example of the Thessalonians. We're learning how to do ministry from the example of Paul, Silas and Timothy, the guys who started this church, the guys who are writing this letter. And then we're learning from the example of the Thessalonians how we're supposed to be here at church.

[00:03:07] And so we've been 12 different times. We've opened up this book and we've tried to learn from their example and we found it to be very convicting and very energizing. Can I get a man from an event on that? I mean, we've learned a lot from this church, from how it got started and the guys who started it and then from how the church responded, how the word of the Lord echoed out, resounded out from these people.

[00:03:26] And today we're gonna see more from Paul how he thought about ministry when he came to love and to teach these people look at versus ten to twelve of thirty. First Thessalonians, Chapter two. It says you are witnesses and God. Also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers for you know how like a father with his children. We exhort in each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

[00:04:07] So now Paul here is reminding them, hey, you are witnesses. You saw how I lived. And he compares himself here to a father with his children. I was an example to you guys, just like it. Dad would be an example to his kids. And like a dad, I exhorted you. I encouraged you. So it says in verse 11, if you look at it there with me, it says for, you know, how like a father with his children. And then it says in verse 10, you are witnesses. So he's referring to things that they had already seen. You say you saw how I lived. You're witnesses to my life. And another thing that I would expect you already know is, you know, how a dad is supposed to be with his kids. Now, we've got a big problem trying to preach this passage here this morning in this room of people, because we're starting with. Two assumptions that I can't assume. I can't assume that you have had appall in your life. I can't assume that anyone has come along to disciple you, to teach you in a personal way spiritually. I can't assume that I'm trying to do that here at this church. And I've been going up to people and I've been saying, hey, why don't you and I get together? Let's talk.

[00:05:23] Hey, we got to plug you into a small group and people are telling me things like, wow, no pastor has ever, like, sat down with me and talked with me before. I've never really been plugged in to a small group ever before in my life. We got a lot of people here at this church and we were to get honest, OK. You have never really had someone like as an older man or woman in your life leading you spiritually. You don't have that example to look up to. That's gonna make it hard to preach a sermon that's all about following a good example. If you've never had one case, this is a challenge, then I'm supposed to appeal to you. Well, you know how a dad should be. Well, can we can't. That's something we can't say in America anymore, right? I mean, you can decide whether your dad did what the Bible says a dad should do or not. The Bible says the way we're talking about it here at our church is dad is supposed to be the Bible teacher of the home. That's how the Bible defines dad. Like he's the one who brings his children up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord Deuteronomy six four to nine. If you want to write down the ultimate dad passage is Deuteronomy six, four to nine, where it says that dad is basically as he's going about his day. When we're waking up and we're going to bed, as we're going out from the house, as we're coming back in. What is Dad doing? He's teaching his children the word of the Lord because it's on his heart. That's who dad's supposed to be. So I'm gonna say here to you guys today. Well, you know how like a father with his kids. Well, how many of you grew up with a Bible teacher at your house? So I can't assume anything here today but Thessalonians and to have Paul as a spiritual father figure, maybe some of them came from good families. I don't know. But to have example's do you realize the power of example in somebodies life? Do you realize that you can go and get education all that you want, but there is nothing in a classroom that can happen that says and powerful is what happens at home?

[00:07:30] That example is the most important influence, I think, in somebodies life.

[00:07:36] We can say it all we want. That's what we're doing this morning. We're speaking. But when you can show it in the way that you live.

[00:07:44] It's so important.

[00:07:47] Every Christian is supposed to be an example of a saved person of a new life. We're all a type of Christ. That's the idea of Christian. We're all little Crites. We're supposed to show to our family, to our brothers and sisters here at church, to our neighbors and coworkers and people who don't believe in Jesus Christ. We are supposed to be examples to everybody of what it means to be a Christian. I mean, you've heard it said maybe before that the best Bible, the only Bible that some people will ever read is who?

[00:08:22] It's the example.

[00:08:25] They're going to open the book and see what it says, they're going to evaluate your life and decide if they want in or not. And that's what he ultimately gets to his goal in being the spiritual father and using the analogy of a physical father. His goal is clearly stated in verse 12. Here's what he wanted. He exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you. Here was the end goal of all of this example. To walk in a manner worthy of God.

[00:08:54] Here's what he wants. Christian people who live out.

[00:09:00] The life of Jesus Christ, not just people who profess their faith in Jesus, but people who practice their faith in Jesus. That's what he wants. People who don't just talk it. They walk it. Let's get this down for point number one. Don't just profess your faith. Practice it. That's our first point that we got to start with. Don't just profess your faith. Practice in your walk is a classic way that the Bible refers to your lifestyle, the way that you conduct yourself. And it says that the goal of Paul's instruction and this was a major theme for Paul, his goal when he looked at people.

[00:09:37] He wanted them to get saved, but as saved people, what he wanted Christians to do was walk worthy. This is one of the key phrases that Paul is going to use in his writing. Hey, it's great that you have put your trust in Jesus Christ. You see what Jesus did by dying for your sin and rising again. It's great that you associate yourself with that.

[00:09:58] Do you live that way? Could other people see Jesus Christ in your life? Do you walk worthy? Jesus set the standard. Are you now living that out? Go to Ephesians Chapter four.

[00:10:10] Let's just look at a few pages to the left. We're gonna look at three of Paul's letters here, Ephesians Philippians and Galoshes. And you'll see this idea of walking worthy that we see in our text. He he talks about this almost in every letter. It's. It's a major theme. And he says it here in Ephesians, chapter four, verse one. This is a key turning point in the book of Ephesians. He's been giving them theology truths about God in the first three chapters.

[00:10:37] Now he's moving to practice how they're supposed to apply what they've learned about God. And here's the turning point in officiants. Chapter four, verse one. He says, I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, is writing this from jail. Urge you beg you plead with you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

[00:11:00] If you've been called to be a Christian, if you've been given the greatest gift that could ever be received, that we're going to celebrate this entire season, the gift of Jesus Christ, the gift of eternal life. If you have that, then walk in a manner worthy of that calling. How do you make Jesus look to the people around you?

[00:11:22] Is it a worthy representation of the glory of Jesus Christ? If people can't see Jesus, they can't go to the manger.

[00:11:30] They can't go to the cross. But you're saying you've been there. You believe that he was God became man. You believe he died for your sin. Can they see Jesus?

[00:11:39] Is your life a worthy representation of the calling of Jesus Christ?

[00:11:45] Someone never read the Bible, never came to church, but they saw you.

[00:11:50] Would they end up loving Jesus Christ? That's the idea here.

[00:11:53] Go to the next book, Philippians. Look at Philippians, Chapter one. Let's hear the sound of Bible pages turning here. I CompassHB Bible Church this morning. And Luke Philippians, chapter one, verse twenty seven. I would say this is the thesis statement of this letter. And here he says only if we can boil it down to this only. Let your manner of life, your walk, the way you conduct yourself. Be worthy of the Gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you. Here's what I want to hear about you. Here's the example I want you to be setting, that you are standing firm in one spirit.

[00:12:29] With one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Hey, only if I could summarize what I'm telling you guys down to one thing. Walk worthy, conduct your manner of life in a way that reflects the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that even if I'm not with you, your reputation, what people are saying about you is they're living for Jesus.

[00:12:54] They celebrate Christmas all year long. Man, that guy, he's a Jesus freak. Is that what people would say about your life? Let's just make it real personal. Is that what your kids would say about your life? Is that what your neighbors would say about your life? Is that what the people who work at the place you work would say about you?

[00:13:13] Does your landlord get that vibe from you?

[00:13:17] Does the lady who lives down the street that always walks her dog, that does its business on your lawn?

[00:13:23] Does she get that impression from you as you forgive her? Many, many times. Right. I mean, you people should be like Amen something different about someone, so. And they should be able to tell you what the difference is. Not like you're just a positive person. No, that you follow Jesus, you're worthy of being called a Christian. I see a lot of Christians today and I wonder if Jesus really wants to be associated with them because they look a lot like Satan's kids. They look a lot like the rest of the world. And I wonder if they're really making their dad proud and how they're representing the family name. Are we walking worthy as a big thing? Every person you call yourself a Christian. Great. Are you walking in a worthy man or of that title of the name of Jesus Christ? I hope you have a high view of Jesus Christ and your life should reflect that.

[00:14:19] Look at Colossians. You'll just see it here again, just so I could prove you are not going off on some random idea of some higher calling of this walking worthy. No know, everyone who's been called to be a Christian is called to the high standard of walking worthy of Jesus Christ.

[00:14:35] Colossians, 110, says it like this so as to walk. He's praying for them so as to walk in a manner. What's his motto? What's his theme? Walk in, man. Or what?

[00:14:46] Worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him bearing fruit and every good work and increasing growing in the knowledge of God. And that's just not knowing more Bible facts. That's actually knowing God in a real relationship with him that shows up in your life. A lot of people, they love that Jesus did. This is what I see from a lot of Christians that I meet, if we're gonna we're gonna sing a few more songs about Jesus Christ, man. Sign me up, because I love what Jesus did. I love the gospel I have. I'm encouraged, actually, that there are people who really seem to appreciate the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's a great thing. We should have a high view of the good news of Jesus. Go with me to Isaiah, Chapter one. Let's just remind ourselves or in case we got some family visiting or somebody is new here this morning, let's just look back at the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what we're really about, proclaiming that the name of Jesus who came to save us. And here in Isaiah, we've referred to this before here at our church. Isaiah, chapter one, verse 18. We've said, hey, there's a verse that kind of summarizes what happens in the gospel. Isaiah Chapter one, verse 18. It says, it's from the tone of God himself speaking.

[00:16:04] And it says, come now. Let us reason together, says the Lord. God's inviting you into a conversation. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red, like crimson. They shall become like wool. Here's the offer on the table of the Gospel. Here's good news. You've got a crimson stain. Sin has messed you up badly. It has tainted who you are in God's sight. That's the bad news. Here's the good news. God's ready to wipe it all the way here today.

[00:16:41] He's ready to wipe the slate clean. You could walk. We don't see it around here in Huntington Beach. But you could walk out of here as wide as snow. Right. Which is beautifully white. Right. Crystal clean. That's the idea here. You could come in here to church this morning burdened by your sin, feeling guilty, feeling shame.

[00:16:59] And you could walk out of here by the end of this service today and you could have all of your sins completely forgiven because everything that you've done, this crimson stain in God's sight, that you are because of your sin, man.

[00:17:13] Jesus Christ, he already shed his blood. And his blood is the one thing that can wash away your stay and make you white as snow. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. But it's already been shed. And the offer is on the table. Come in here today, dirty and walk out of here today clean. Does that sound like a good deal to anybody? Is that why we're into this thing? That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everybody likes that part. You know what I mean? That sounds nice. So you're telling me I mean, Black Friday, people were people were getting serious about Black Friday. This is a growing phenomenon in our culture. It looked like to me it was black Thursday this year. Did you see those commercials? When was Black Friday? Starting Thursday at six p.m., according to my calendar. That's still Thanksgiving, but apparently it's Black Friday. You know, greatest deal I ever got was the day that all of my sin was placed on Jesus Christ. And I got all of his righteousness. That's the best deal I've ever had, say.

[00:18:12] And I really like the righteousness of Jesus Christ when it's coming to me as a gift, when I'm getting it for free. And all I'm doing is confessing my sin and I'm getting 100 percent forgiven. Sign me up right now. Right. Still gets me excited.

[00:18:27] Right now it's saying here's the standard, 100 percent pure righteousness of Jesus Christ. Okay. Christian, walk that way.

[00:18:36] Say.

[00:18:38] That's what it's calling you. You love the righteousness. When it was getting traded for your sin. That's what we're praising the Lord for forever. Now it's saying by that blood of Jesus Christ in the name of Jesus Christ, by his power walk in righteousness. If you are a Christian person here this morning, you should be able to say I am living a righteous life. That's what Paul says. Go back to First Thessalonians, Chapter two. Look what he says. You could say, well, how. How arrogant. How proud. Oh, that holier than thou. Well, yeah. Maybe he was holier than than we are here today.

[00:19:17] But here's a guy who said and he's writing God inspired scripture that we're reading now thousands of years later. And here's what he's able to say. And this is not edited out of the holy words of God. This is inspired. You are witnesses. If you had seen Paul, here's three words you would have used to describe him and God also God will testify about this, about me. How holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers?

[00:19:47] Hey, if we're gonna claim the righteousness of Jesus Christ on salvation, then what the Bible is saying is claim it in the way that you live.

[00:19:54] To my friend and walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Put your sin to death. Turn from it.

[00:20:04] Say no to it. Get help from brothers and sisters and do everything you possibly can to live a righteous life. That's the way that Jesus would want you to live. Jesus didn't die for your sin.

[00:20:17] So you could keep doing it. Jesus died for your sin so you could be free from it. And that freedom starts right now in your life where you have the power in Jesus Christ. So say noticing and to say yes to doing what is right.

[00:20:35] That was Paul's goal for every Christian person. That's why he treated them like a father with love, his own children. He wanted them not to just believe in the righteousness of Jesus, but to live the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

[00:20:50] Are you a righteous man here this morning? Are you a righteous woman here this morning? Can you say that you walk in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ? That is the goal for every single person who's a Christian. That's a high standard. Is it not? Sorry. I cannot change the standard. You want me to change the standard? Go to a church where they do the bombing to tell you what the Bible says and what the Bible says is here's an expectation of you as a real human being who is tempted and who sometimes struggles and sometimes gives in to sin. But here's a standard.

[00:21:29] God wants to hold you to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, a standard of righteousness and holiness. I've had the privilege of preaching this message before, and I talked about how I gave it.

[00:21:42] I was speaking to younger people, so I brought out a prop. So you're just gonna have to imagine this prop. But I had I had a scale. And it was just this little two part scale. And if you put things on it, it would balance out.

[00:21:53] But if one thing weighed more than the other one, it was like an elementary school thing. Right. I used it and I put like things that clearly weren't going to balance out and they didn't work. And then I put two little bottles on there and they balanced out perfectly.

[00:22:09] And I flipped one of the bottles around and it said Gospel. And then I flipped the other bottle around and it said life. It was like, does your life balance with the gospel? Jesus died for your sin. Does your life show that you no longer live in sin? There was a guy he's actually teaching our two year olds on the other side of his wall right now. He sat there first time he'd ever been to our church. Didn't even want to be there. Actually hated coming to the church, specifically hated youth pastors like me. And he heard that. And you know what he said to himself right in the middle of that sermon? I don't measure up. I don't measure up. I never have measured up to that standard and I never will measure up to that standard. And that's because I haven't really experienced the righteousness of Jesus Christ, because if I really did know the righteousness of Jesus Christ, you would be able to see some of that righteousness in my life. And you know what happened to him while he was listening to the sermon? He asked God to give him that righteousness and he got saved right there, his first time at a church. He didn't want to be a. And that man, the guy, you can't get him out of our church now. I mean, seriously. I mean, the guy, the guy, he's one of the reasons we knew we needed a plan, a church up here in North Orange County, because he would bring people from Garden Grove down to our church in South County. I mean, he brought dozens of high schoolers from Garden Grove to release Oviedo. That's like fifteen minutes one way. And he would bring them why? Because now he had the power of Christ in his life. And everybody was an example to his entire peer group. Have someone who experienced the real righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so if you're thinking, well, I can't measure up to that standard of righteousness. Let me tell you why, my friend. Because you don't have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. No one brings their own righteousness to the table. You either accept a gracious gift of God. Or you don't have righteousness and offer on the table is all of your crimson stain, your sin will be blotted out for ever. Now, if that's what God's done for me through his son, Jesus, then I want to live a righteous life for him. Can I get the Amen from anybody on this guy?

[00:24:36] I want to I want to be one of the Christians that there's a bunch of people called professing faith, but only a small percentage of us are actually practicing faith.

[00:24:45] Well, I want to be one of those people. And I want to have a church of those kind of people. And if people are going to say that's not possible, I'm going to look at the Bible on him and say, then why is it telling me to do it? Every other book. Why is that the main theme of Paul's writing? If it's not possible. And how can he say he was a pretty messed up sinner himself? How can he call himself a righteous person if it's not possible? Don't tell me it's not possible to live a righteous life because you're insulting the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And we won't stand for that here at this church if you know Jesus Christ. You know how to live for him. You can walk in a manner that is worthy. So I ask you today, are you walking in a manner worthy? But the gospel of Jesus Christ. You've got kids at your house. Would they be able to say, well, I'll tell you why I'm here some day because of the example of my parents? You have other people here at this church that know you well enough and see how you live, that you could be an example to them. Someone who is showing them with skin on.

[00:25:56] What the life of Jesus Christ really looks like. That's what we need here at this church. We need as many Christians as we can walking worthy, setting this tone of righteousness, being an example so that if you're not a Christian or you're like a struggling Christian and you come in here and you meet these people, man, it raises you to the standard of the scriptures.

[00:26:15] That's what we need here at this church. You can be a valuable part of this church if you are walking worthy of the gospel. Now we're back in versus Lenience Chapter two.

[00:26:25] And then that's verse ten. Verse 10 says that Paul is claiming to be righteous. And his goal for all of these people was that they would walk in this worthy way, living out the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that they're not just professing faith, but they are living it out. And as we've seen before, they were living it out here in the Thessalonians church. And we're gonna learn more about that. Paul wasn't just a great example. As the leader of the church, the church was doing what their spiritual father, Paul, had instructed them to do. Now, he makes this analogy here, which I'm still tripping up on verse eleven for, you know how like a father with his children.

[00:27:02] Now, I struggle with this because when I tell people about my dad that he read us the Bible every day, I get this look from a lot of people, like they don't understand what I'm talking about. Like, that's not the way that they grew up. So I don't think we can just assume at this point, like, hey, we're supposed to be an example, like a dad's an example. Why don't maybe you didn't have a good dad who was an example to you. Maybe you're thinking to yourself right now. Yeah. I love my dad, but I don't want to follow in the way that he conducted himself in this life. I would imagine if we were gonna get real, a lot of people would be in that category here this morning.

[00:27:43] And see, it's kind of weird because when we talk about salvation and somebody says, well, my testimony is gone, I got saved of sex, drugs and rock and roll. And then there's this other person over here.

[00:27:52] It's like, well, how did you get saved? Well, my parents taught me it when I was really young and I just start, yeah, that's what I should do. And so I put my faith in Jesus. It's like, all right, Mr. Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll.

[00:28:02] You're sharing your testimony at our special event. You praise the Lord. Go out and see. Right. I mean, that's how the testimonies work, right? I mean, that's how it goes, right. Wow. We've got a great B.S. and a really exciting A.D.. Wow. Look at the change. Everybody can see that you share in front of everybody. Well, that's nice.

[00:28:21] See, then we start talking about family, though. What do you want when it comes to your family? You want sex, drugs and rock and roll as your story to all of a sudden? I grew up in a house where if I wanted to go outside and play with other kids, my parents told me no. If I wanted to go see a movie, my parents told me no. I wanted to go and hang out with this girl. My parents told me, no, I'm not a very exciting junior high, but a great life. I mean, that's the truth.

[00:28:50] Yes, it it. But but we more relate to the dad who's sitting there in his lazy boy chair saying, son, don't do as I do. Do as I say. Right. We're going up in the modern generation where dad is playing with the apps on his iPod, complaining why his kids don't spend more time outdoors. I mean, that's that's how it's going right now. Right. We don't have a lot of dads who are not examples to their children. And honestly, they expect their kids to do a lot of things at their house or in their schooling that they never did themselves.

[00:29:25] And they definitely aren't doing right now. A lot of dads are rocking that double standard. See? And we're calling dads out today. And we're saying, Dad, all eyes look to you, the standard in the family does not rise above the bar that dad is at. You're the example like a father with his children. So every man in the room, whether you're a dad right now or not, you can feel that responsibility a little bit on your shoulders right now that the eyes in the home, they're gonna be looking to you. And you've got to see. Am I an example to everybody here?

[00:30:05] And you already wrote down Deuteronomy six four to nine as the finding dad as the Bible teacher, the home. Just look at Ephesians six four. We've already referenced this verse so many times. Let's turn to it. It's just a few pages to the left here. Ephesians six four. Here's dad in a nutshell. In one verse, here's dad's job description. Fathers, it says, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline. That's this correcting addressing wrong behavior and instruction. That's this positive reinforcement, scriptural knowledge, instruction of the Lord.

[00:30:40] So here's the command. Here's what dads are supposed to do.

[00:30:44] I hear Dad say stuff like, well, hey, who do you think's putting food on the table around here dads today?

[00:30:49] They act like why I'm one of the good dads, because I didn't bail on you. And I'm providing for you. So what do you want from me now? You know, like Dad's job is to put food on the table. We just read a verse addressing dads. And did it talk about putting food on the table?

[00:31:05] No, it did not. Now, that's an important part of dad's job. I will agree with that. But that's just the beginning of Dad's job.

[00:31:12] Dad's job is not over when he's pulling into the garage at the end of the workday. Dad's job is just beginning when he's pulling into the garage at the end of the workday. Work, real work, right? I mean, is about to begin when you walk in the door. Now, I'm not dissing at all. Whatever you do for a living, that's an important thing as a man to be providing for your family. I'm very strongly in support of that. But what I am missing is this attitude that I'm going to now come home and my family exists to serve me.

[00:31:42] That is an anti biblical attitude for a dad. No, you are their dad to discipline and instruct every single kid that God has blessed you with in their house. And here's how a lot of dads do that. OK, well, I'm going to do some discipline. Dads get all like military drill sergeant all of a sudden, right? Yeah, I like these words, discipline, instruction. I'm going to make some rules at my house. All right. We got some rules at this house meeting. This is this is personal wisdom. OK. I would not encourage you to make more rules. As a dad, I just don't see rules really catching on with kids.

[00:32:22] I don't know, maybe you're around different kids, but the kids I've experienced high schoolers, junior hires, my own kids. Rules aren't really like what's getting kids excited these days. Have you noticed that, in fact, there's a command here, Dad? Do not exasperate your children. Let me tell you what will exasperate your children quicker than anything else. Rules without relationship will always exasperate your children. Always you tell them what to do and you don't show them that you care. You're going to have exasperated children. And I think that God, in his infinite wisdom, has given us a great set of rules to live by. But I think are somewhat more substantial than clean your room. You know what I mean? So I would just before you're going to make any more rules at your house, Dad, I would make sure you're sticking with God's rules. I think he's given us enough. So I would just really encourage you, Dad, you start making rules and act like, you know, we're gonna run this like the military here at my house.

[00:33:22] This is your house. This is not a this is not a military boot camp. All right, you need to show these people that you love them and you need to speak to them in this caring, tender kind of a way.

[00:33:37] Look at the words that it uses here in verse 12. We're in First Thessalonians. Sorry, go back to First Thessalonians with me. And let's look at how it describes what dad does, like a father with his children. Now, let me just speak to a bunch of different family situations that we've got. The idea you could write this down, just a quick reference is Proverbs 22 six. The idea the principle in the scripture is train up a child in the way that he should go. And when he is old, he will not. What anybody know that scripture? He's not going to depart from it. OK.

[00:34:10] Now, we could share stories where parents have, to some degree trained up their child in the way that they should go.

[00:34:19] And yet it seems like their child has very much departed from it. So we're operating from the principle. What we are not offering is some money back guarantee that if you do everything that you should do as a dad, your kid's going to turn out one hundred percent. Great. That's not exactly how it works. Well, we are saying is that if you train up a child in the way that they should go, the pattern of their life following your example is going to be to walk in that way for the rest of their days.

[00:34:48] And so it is a principle that we're giving.

[00:34:51] And then also I got to speak because not everybody here even has a dad, or maybe we have some women here who, like, I want to do this. I want to do discipline and instruction of the Lord at my house. But dad doesn't really seem to want to do that at the house.

[00:35:05] Well, let me just give you a reference. Second, Timothy, chapter one, verse five. If you're a single mom or you're a mom who's trying to do something with your kids that dad doesn't really want to do.

[00:35:15] Well, you can be encouraged that Timothy, one of the guys that's named as writing our letter of First Thessalonians, we don't know where his dad was, but he wouldn't reference his faith. It talks about his grandmother's faith and it talks about his mom's faith. And it says that it came and it got passed down to him. And it mentions no male figure, just his grandma and his mom. So if you're a mom and you're trying to set the good example, if there's no dad around or Dad's not into it, let me just encourage you. Hey, that example can be passed down. Here's what I am saying. If you're giving kids an example, they've got at least a start, OK?

[00:35:51] They have at least a frame of reference.

[00:35:53] You've definitely given your child a much better chance of living for Jesus Christ. If they've seen it at home before, then if they haven't.

[00:36:01] That's what I am saying. You can. You're never gonna go wrong being a good example for your kids, but you're going to have to do more dads than just live it out yourself.

[00:36:11] Look what it says here that a dad does. It says in verse 11, you know how like a father with his children. We exhorted each one of you to walk in a manner worthy. Right. Well, it says, look at the words I skipped, exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you.

[00:36:29] So he describes the same thing of dad is now speaking to his kids. We're getting to this actual Bible teaching where dad isn't just living it out himself. Dad is now in some kind of context addressing his kids. And he uses three different words, exhortation or the word that we often use for encouragement that Paraka Layo that coming alongside. Then it says here this next word that it gives.

[00:36:54] You can see it there in verse twelve. This encouraging, OK? That's really kind of this comfort that would express like a tenderness attached to it. Like, I really care that you get this. I want you to really track with me. So I'm not just giving you orders from the top. No, I'm really trying to come alongside and I'm really trying to show you that I want you to get this. I'm getting down on your level about this. And then it's a charge. But we're taking this very seriously. In fact, no other standard than God's standard is going to be accepted in this house. We're kind of echoing the words of Joshua. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We're kind of saying, hey, I can't I'm coming alongside of my child, whether it's a little kid, junior high or high school or maybe they're a full grown adult. Well, I am ready to partner with you. But let me also make this very clear, kid. It's God's way at our house or it's no way at our house.

[00:37:47] That's how we're gonna roll. There's a relationship here. That's what's going on. Dad cares. And the child is getting that.

[00:37:57] I've been rebuked many different times by that man sitting right over there. I've been told what's up? On numerous occasions, too many to count that we could recite for you here today. But here's one thing. In all of the times that my dad was correcting me or instructing me, I never had to wonder if he loved me.

[00:38:19] And if you're making rules, but there's no relationship. It's going to be very hard for your kids to swallow the pill of those rules when they don't think that you're right there with them. And that requires time. That requires spending one on one intimate moments with your child, probably even having fun with your kid. I mean, it doesn't say that directly in the text, but I think it's implied. All right. Mean, where are these conversations happening in an office? Right. Sit down, kids in that chair. Sit straight. Right. And just try to get some of our kids to sit straight. You know what I mean? We're going to have we're going to have to do this in the context of, hey, let's go to McDonald's. Hey, here's a Happy Meal. All right. Let's talk about Jesus. I mean, there's gonna be some bribery involved. I mean, if you see how we got this thing at our church here called Bible, Bucks says any of your kids come back from kids ministry with Bible books. You know what that is? Bribery. That's what that is. That's dangling a tree out in front of their nose. That's what it is. There's going to have to be some fun at your house if there's going to be seriousness about Jesus at your house.

[00:39:36] Now, there's a lot more I could say about being a physical father, but we have an event on Saturday all about this man. If you see that in the bulletin Saturday at 10 o'clock, we're going to go to Kurt Davie's house and we're going to talk about what it means to be a man. This is for any man. Even if you are not bothering kids right now and being a dad, this is for any man what it means to be a man of the word. But then we are going to get into nitty gritty. Here's how we do it at my house kind of stuff to give dad practical ideas of how to talk to their kids, because that's really what dad does in the Bible. He teaches the Bible to his kids. So he says like a father with his kid. I exhorted, I encouraged. And I. I cold out.

[00:40:21] I charged you. I spoke to you.

[00:40:24] You were supposed to have this idea that what dad does is he speaks truth at the home. Now, we're not really talking about the home here. We're actually talking about the church. We're using the home analogy now that we've kind of painted that picture in your mind. That's what we're supposed to do here at church. We're supposed to speak the truth to one another like a dad might call out or encourage his own kid. We are men and women. Everybody here at church, we speak the truth to one another. That's how you build the church by speaking the truth in love. Let's get that down for boy number two. Ministry means speaking the truth. If we're gonna do ministry here at this church, then we're going to speak the truth. I'm going to do it as a pastor. And the sermons, the small group leaders are gonna do it in the small groups. But every single one of us is going to do this to one another. We are going to have to say like a dad would with his kid. Here's what God says in the Bible. Here's how life really works, according to scripture. And we are going to speak truth to a few Chapter four. Let me prove this, that this isn't just Paul. This isn't just the pastor. This isn't just the deacons or the small group leaders. This is every single person in the church is supposed to be like a dad with his kids. Speaking the truth, all of us are called to this.

[00:41:43] And people heroes, since we are just 13 weeks in and we're trying to figure out how we're gonna do this here at this church. A lot of you have very graciously and very generously come up to me. And you have expressed, hey, when you figure out what I can do around here, here's who I am. Here's what I'm good at. Here's what I'm about. When you know where you want to to put me in the game, they kind of have given me this like, hey, coach, when you're ready to put me in, I'm here for you.

[00:42:08] And I really appreciate that. We got a lot of people who have shown up. We got people setting up, tearing down. We got people doing kids ministry right now. It's encouraging how people at this church want to serve. But let me tell you right now what we need you to do, OK? Now, if you've got some specific gifts in a specific area, we'll try to find a way for you to serve if you're really good at setting up. We can get you doing that. But what I need everybody at this church to do, if you want to be a part of this church and you want to serve Jesus here, here's what I need you to do. What it says in Ephesians Chapter four versus 15 and 16, it's talking about how to build up the body of Christ. And it says, rather speaking the truth. And how do you do it? In love, in relationship, showing you care, speaking the truth in love.

[00:42:54] We are to grow up in every way into him. Who is the head into Christ? From whom? The whole body. That's all of us.

[00:43:03] Joined and held together by the pastor as evidence as we joined and held together by every joint, all of us with which it is equipped when each part, each person is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. How do you build a church by speaking the truth to one another in personal relationships.

[00:43:27] That's how we're gonna build this church. I can't speak enough truth to build this church by myself.

[00:43:34] Even the small group leaders that we've got, me and them, are not enough. We need all hands on deck. We need every part of the body of Christ coming together and saying, I know some.

[00:43:45] Truth that I can speak to other people here at district. Now, that means you got to know something to say.

[00:43:53] I mean, first of all, you got to be a Christian and then you got to have something about your relationship with Jesus Christ that you could pass on to other people. Now, if you feel like, well, I'm not I'm not equipped to do that, Will. We've got some things that you can do right away today. OK. I mean, one is I hope you go into a whole fellowship group because that's a place where we gather together to speak true to one another and to develop relationships that show that we care about each other. That's one way you could do this right away just by going to a home fellowship group and participating in the conversation. That's a first step towards doing this right there. Another thing we've got is partners. Who's ever heard of partners before? Here at this church, that's our one on one discipleship program. So the way it works is we've got kind of the basics of Christianity. Here's what you're going to need to know to walk worthy of the gospel. First, you've got to know the gospel. Here's how you have a relationship with God. Here's how church works. Here's how evangelism out in the world works. OK, you got that. Then we when you graduate from partners, when you go through this program, which is a relationship, is really what it is. Somebody speaking the truth to you through relationship. Then you're going to take somebody else through partners. So if you've been through if you raise your hand, we need you to find somebody at this church and take them through and pass on what you know to somebody else if you haven't been through it. This would be a great time to get get on it. Pick up a book at our bookstore right here in this hall. Come talk to me. I will pair you with somebody, a partner, where you can get this process started. We need as many people as possible ready to speak the truth in love. Because when you're hanging out one on one with somebody and they tell you what's really going on in their marriage, they tell you what's really going on with their kids. They tell you how their own personal time with God and the word and prayer is going. You don't want to say where you should go. Texts, talk to the pastor about this. You don't want to say where you should go talk to a small group leader when they're talking about real life, the basics of the Christian life. You know what you want to say?

[00:45:51] Well, here's the truth that I've learned from the Bible about that. That's how the church gets built. That's how it grows.

[00:45:59] When we're hanging out with each other and the real issues of life come up and you give a brother the truth that they need, you say to a sister, sometimes you might even have to give them to know him really well.

[00:46:09] And then you might have to rebuke them. I mean, I've had friends like that. I've rolled over to a friend's house. I've not I have known some people. You go over to their house and they've got some kids at that house and it looks like the kids are run in that house. You ever been to that house before? It's like we're just here to have dinner and we just had a food fight. You know what I mean? And it doesn't seem like Dad is going to do anything about it now. And I'm saying, hey, dad, limit the rules. I'm not saying anarchy. All right? I'm not advocating socialism. All right. You're the leader. OK, let's do something here. And I'm seeing kids are out of control. Dad's not doing anything about it. I care about Dad as a one brother to another. Am I going to pull that aside and say, hey, man, thanks for having us over. Food was delicious. Your kids are out of control.

[00:47:04] You talked about I got you argue that was constructive, right? Say something positive before you slam somebody whenever you get that e-mail right. I really love the church, but. Oh, hang on. Seat belt time. Here we go. Right. That's how it works. But I have to have a relationship with that guy to be able to say that. I say that to him. He doesn't think I care. He doesn't think we have some kind of bond between us.

[00:47:29] What is he going to receive that very well? No, he's a. That's why it's so important that we're getting to know each other. Can't just be faces we smile at on Sundays and be in groups. We got to get to know each other. We got to go over to each other's houses. We got to find out what real life is. And so-and-so is life, because then they can look at your life and I can know what the scripture says. And I can say to you, hey, what you're doing. It's not worthy. It's not what the Bible says. Let me come alongside of you. Let me show that I care. Let's do this together. That's how you build the church. And I'm ready to do that. I'm ready to do that with each and every person here. I can't do that with every person here.

[00:48:08] And we want to see more people follow Jesus Christ. I CompassHB Bible Church, and I need to beat that. We need more truth speakers. It's that straightforward. More people involved in relationship who will speak out eventually. It would be a goal, I would say, for you to have a home fellowship group at your house, maybe that you are leading now. That might be a far distant goal for you right now, but that would be. Wouldn't that be great if you could have a team of people where you're saying, hey, we heard from the word of the Lord. Let's talk about how we're gonna live this out. And you could start that conversation and encourage a group of people to do that. I'd be a great goal for every person here to eventually have a group like that at your house where you're encouraging other people to live out what God says. Go to Hebrews Chapter 10 if there's a great passage about how we're supposed to speak to one another in the church. It's Hebrews Chapter 10.

[00:49:01] And this father idea. Right. I mean, Paul definitely did this like that, especially with the Corinthians. I don't know if you've ever read Paul's letters to the Corinthians, First and Second Corinthians there.

[00:49:12] Two long letters because this church had a massive amount of problems. OK, the Corinthian church is like the opposite of a Thessalonians church. Like the Thessalonians Church is a positive example that's challenging us. The Corinthians is like an example of, like, church gone bad, you know. And so he writes a lot of stuff and he has to rebuke some, like flat out major sin going on. Like you could write down First Corinthians five. He has to. He has to go off on someone specifically in the church who is involved in sexual immorality. He puts that in a letter to be read in front of the entire church. Would that be an awkward Sunday if I called out somebody here for sexual immorality?

[00:49:53] That's First Corinthians, Chapter five. Second Corinthians. Chapter six. Verse 13. If you want to write that down, he says you guys are getting in there with the wrong crowd. You guys are becoming like you're becoming yoked. Is the analogy he uses. You're becoming like side by side people with non Christians, with people who are of the world. You're becoming worldly. He says your best friends, the people you're surrounding yourself with, they're not running for Jesus Christ. You're becoming like the world. You got to separate yourself from the world. A harsh rebuke saying you're gonna have to end some relationships. You're gonna have to stop doing business with some people. Now, before he gives either one of these harsh rebukes in those letters, guess what he brings up right before he gives either one of those harsh rebukes?

[00:50:36] I'm your dad. That's what he says. Both times before he's ready to go into rebuke, he says, hey, who's your spiritual father? Who loves you, who cares for you? Do we have a relationship? Okay. Now I want to talk about so-and-so sexual morality. Hey, my heart is so wide open for you, he says in Seventh Corinthians, Chapter six Vasilev Love. My heart is so wide open for you. Is yours open to me? Do we love each other? Do we have this relationship? OK. Separate yourselves from the people of this world before he gives a rebuke. What does he do? He shows that he cares. Dad. Let that be a strategy for you. You having trouble with one of your kids? I take him out for a fun time. Before I slammed him with the rebuke as just a little weird, I'd remark, make sure they know that you care before you go there. And that's why I'm saying right now, just showing up, getting to know people, going out to lunch with somebody that's establishing a platform for you to speak truth into their life later on. You can't speak truth to somebody you don't know. Someone in some of the guys here. They were like, hey, let's go shooting of guns. Now, some of you guys are are frequent, you know, proud citizens of the Second Amendment of these United States. Right. You exercise your right to bear arms all the time. That's not something my dad taught me. We didn't have guns at my house. I've never shot a gun until like a week ago. Thursday was the first time I ever shot a gun. And I shot a Clint Eastwood Magnum and I shot him pretty close to the bull's eye. But that's not the point of where I'm going. The point of where I'm going is that when my brothers here say, let's go shoot some guns because we've got guns and we've got ammo and we like to shoot stuff. What do I say? I'm a city slicker. Would I say I'm one of those sensitive Orange County types? Is that what I say? I say, you're my bro. Yes. What we're doing. We're shooting guns. Right. Who's ended up having more fun than anybody else? This guy not saying I'm going to buy a gun, but if my bro's want to go, I'm going with them. Why? Because I care about these guys. And someday I'm going to have to say something to him that's not going to go down so easy. I'm going to be like, I remember when we shotgun's. Yeah, you need to step it up as a dad.

[00:52:56] That's how it's going to go. That's going to happen.

[00:53:02] So we got to start establishing relationships right now so that we can see that stuff can establish a platform to speak the truth. This is not for pastors. This is not for leaders. This is for you. If you're one of Jesus's people and Hebrews 10 24 makes it very clear it doesn't let us. Who's the US? All of us. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some. Some people, they don't do it. But encouraging one another. This is all of us in the church. Coming alongside one another and all the more as you see the day. Capital D. The day that Jesus is going to return. Drawing near all the more as you get into the end times the last days, there should be even more Christian encouragement going on now than ever in the history of the church. Because we're getting closer to Jesus coming back. Now people use this verse and they say, see, you guys should all be coming to church. Don't neglect the meeting together, as is the habit of some when I read this passage. It's not talking about going to church on Sunday. It's not talking about sitting face forward and hearing preaching from the word. This passage is talking about sitting in a circle and encouraging one another. This isn't saying go to church. This is saying go to small group. That's what it is. This is say and be a part of a group where you have other people that you know well enough that you can consider.

[00:54:27] Think about beforehand how you would get that person to do love and good deeds. So every Thursday night, I go over to So and So's House and we sit there and I'm meeting this guy. And now I'm supposed to be while I'm at my house, not thinking about myself like a dad's not there to be served, but to serve his family. Now I'm at my house on my time, not watching TV. Not hanging out. No. What am I doing?

[00:54:53] I'm thinking about my brother that's at my group that I'm going to go to on Thursday. And I'm thinking, how do I get that guy fired up for Jesus? How do I get that guy to love his wife more?

[00:55:02] How do I get that guy to start opening up the Bible at his house? And I'm considering now someone I barely know at church. How I could stir them up. It says here to love and good deeds. That's what this is talking about, being a part of a small group of people where you really know somebody and you now are thinking about somebody else.

[00:55:20] How do I get them going? I used to love the version of this when I was growing up. It said spur one another on. I love that picture. Right. Spur one another on now.

[00:55:32] Now, my dad, when I was a freshman in high school, enjoying the Southern California life to the extreme, living in a beach city, starting to become one of the cool kids at school. My dad announced to the family that we were going to move to San Antonio, Texas. Now, if you live here in California and you want to live in Texas, I personally do not relate to that. OK. I like here. Hey, there's a reason it costs more. It's worth it. That's just my personal opinion.

[00:56:06] All right. So my dad says to me, we are moving to San Antonio, Texas, because he's gonna be a pastor of a church out there that is like the worst news ever to me.

[00:56:19] And here we go out there and all. Here's what I know about San Antonio by folks who know what salsa shit tastes like. That's what I know about New York City. Remember those old pace content commercials anyway? San Antonio, people who don't want to have salsa. That's what I'm thinking. I can't I can't take hot stuff. I'm a gringo from. Oh, si. Right. So we move out to Texas and no one be old. We're not even there that long. And I'm doing my driver's training and I'm hanging out and I'm just at normal stores, not even with my family, because I'm driving around and going to all these places with the driving instructor. And what do we got? Cowboys, right. They're all around us, hats, belt buckles. I mean, you could eat off that belt buckle if you put it on the table. Boots.

[00:57:03] What do they got on the back of their boot, announcing their presence to everybody as they saunter on in to get another thing of ice tea and barbecue?

[00:57:12] Right. I got those spurs. Now, I'm definitely not a cowboy as I'm trying to set up here. Right. But what I understand is that the cowboy is riding his trusty steed and he wants his steed to giddy on up to run a little quicker.

[00:57:28] He gives that steed the spur. That was the original idea of this thing on the end of your boot. That's got sharp metal pokers on it.

[00:57:37] OK. And you let your horse know you probably have a relationship with your horse. Your horse trusts you and you let your horse know we're going fast and we're going fast now. Now, I've said this in this illustration before being from San Antonio. We love our spurs there. We named our basketball team after them. And I've said this before, and people always want what you don't realize. You don't really just kick the horse. You lightly graze the horse. I'm just like, OK, I get that semantical work push in the horse with a sharp metal poker to say giddy on up. Welcome to church, my friends. Let's get out our sharp metal pokers of love and start jabbing each other.

[00:58:15] That's what we are here to do. OK, you give. You give. You find that brother. You get to know that brother. You see where he's at in his life. You consider him. You come up to him and you give him a swift kick of love. That's what you do. You say, I want to spur. You want. I want to stir you up. I want to come alongside of you like a dad would come alongside of his kid. And I want to help you do more good deeds and fall more in love with Jesus Christ. That's what church is all about.

[00:58:45] My. Just getting to know each other, getting to love each other. And then when it calls for it saying, Hey, brother, hey, sister. Hey, friend. Hey, remember when we did this? Hey, you know, we go way back off 13 weeks now, right? I got to tell you something. And you say it because you care and you say it because you want to see them loving Jesus Christ.

[00:59:05] Is that the kind of church that we want to be? Because if that's the kind of church that we want to be, that's the kind of Christian you need to be.

[00:59:13] You need to speak the truth to one another like a father does for his own child. Let me pray.

[00:59:18] Gary, thank you so much for this passage, for these analogies, for the example of both Paul as a Christian who walks worthy of the gospel and the example of a father who teaches the scriptures to his kid who comes alongside who has a relationship with them. And God, I pray that that's the way we would be here at this church, that we would walk worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that we would hold each other to a high standard of holiness and righteousness. We're so thankful that you would send the gift of Jesus Christ. We're so thankful that we can offer him our sin and get his righteousness in return. We praise you for that.

[00:59:55] But now we want to live out that righteousness. And we want to do it here together in this community. We want to get to know each other, want to express our care for one another. We want to consider how to spur one another on giving each other that swift kick of encouragement. So that we might see people at this church loving Jesus more than they ever have, giving more of themselves than they've ever done for your glory, that the name of Jesus Christ might be lifted higher, that more people could join our team and be encouraged. Please do this work. Please do this work in our hearts. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.